Mystery Project at Epcot

[FigmentJedi]

I really honestly think you could do it in Florida. I think the original film is a masterpiece, so if it sounds at all like I'm negative about it, I'm not. The original film uses a lot of misdirection and "spice", if you will. You go over plain farmland, but you don't care because you're looking at the hot air balloons. Nothing's really going on in the orange grove, but swoosh! you almost hit your feet on those trees! The river is pretty, but not awe-inspiring... your attention is grabbed by the rafters.

I made a scene list of the ride film, and I'll try to suggest a Florida equivalent. Not that it has to be what I suggest or in that order, but I just want to establish the idea that you could do a film like the original in Florida. For example, I think flying over St. Augustine at sunrise first would be very symbolic because it's so old. I'll just slot that in somewhere where there's no obvious equivalent, though.

Clouds........................Clouds
Golden Gate Bridge.........Sunshine Skyway Bridge
River Rafting................Big Shoals
Farm/Hot Air Balloons......Farm/Hot Air Balloons
Rocky Ocean Shore..........Rocky Ocean Shore
Skiing/Tahoe.................St. Augustine
Yosemite/Hang Gliders......South Beach
Palm Springs Golf Course....Random Pretty Golf Course
Orange Grove................Orange Grove
Cowboys/Blue Angels........Kennedy Space Center (I checked; they still launch rockets, just not shuttles)
Navy in San Diego............Navy in Jacksonville
Surfers at Sunset.............Surfers at Sunset
110 Freeway at Night........Overseas Highway/Key West
Disneyland.....................Follow Monorail from Epcot to MK for fireworks

I think you could stack that film up pretty well against the original. Duplicating the "magic" is very tough, of course, but I think there's a really good framework for a Florida film. That's even leaving out ideas others have had or my idea to do a fly-by on the Dream or Fantasy.

You forgot the Everglades

 

[Wikkler]

Soarin' Over Florida could go in Disney's Florida Adventure

To change the topic... here's what the grand plans for 2004 were once like...

Disney has constantly had problems with their representations of the future. From the difficult Tomorrowlands that plagued Walt, to Epcot's Future World struggling to stay ahead of the fast pace of modern progress, tomorrow just came too fast. Epcot also suffered from a reputation problem; too many children said it was 'boring', or worse ... 'educational'!
Project Gemini was an ambitious plan, reportedly costing to $500 million, to completely reinvigorate Future World, or rather Discoveryland as it was to become, and rebrand Epcot as "The Discovery Park of Walt Disney World" for 2006. The new name allowed the Imagineers a bit more leeway when it came to depicting future technology, rather they could focus on the discovery of new technology.
Aesthetically, the open expanses of concrete and flashy metallic and neon design of Future World would be replaced with a much more intimate, natural environment, with hundreds of trees and flowerbeds planted everywhere. This was the Montana Future that Michael Eisner loved, and also wanted to push for Disneyland, and took inspiration for the plans for Westcot.
The first change would have been right after the gate, in which guest movement would be restricted solely to the right of Spaceship Earth. The left side would be the queue and boarding area of Time Racers, the new ride inside Spaceship Earth - a rollercoaster through time that uses giant projections of time-lapse photography to simulate speeding from pre-history to the future.
Moving clockwise around the land, the Energy would remain largely untouched, Wonders of Life would be entirely closed and Mission: SPACE would open as planned. Outside Test Track, the Imagineers wanted to bring back a now lost Disneyland attraction, the Junior Autopia, primarily to entertain the younger children who couldn't ride on Test Track.
The Imagination pavilion would remain the same, but between it and the Land pavilions, a new maze would appear, including numerous educational displays and interactive exhibits to play with while trying to find a way out. The Land would receive a 'Rainforest Rollercoaster', an off-the-shelf rollercoaster through a simulated rainforest canopy, as well as a clone of Soarin' from Disney's California Adventure - only with a film soaring over the entire planet Earth.
And finally, the Living Seas would now become home to the Little Mermaid, Sebastian and King Triton, with a new environmental message of avoiding ocean pollution and overfishing as part of the new preshow 'Under the Sea'.
The Innoventions buildings would lose their connecting roofs and become six individual buildings to allow space for the new trees. The western buildings would become 'Leading Edge', an exhibit of recent scientific discoveries, the 'Robot Restaurant', a restaurant overlooking a robot battling arena (possibly inspired by the Battle Droids concept for above Plectu) and Future Mart, an emporium of Epcot themed gifts. The eastern side would have the 'Home of the Future', similar to the attraction inside Disneyland's Innoventions but it could even have included the animatronics from a gutted Carousel of Progress, an 'Internet Cafe' with food available, and 'Cool Stuff', with the latest consumer products - like Segway testing.

I bolded the part relevant to the ride

 

[Goofyernmost]

You forgot the Everglades

I believe I covered that in one of the swamps mentioned.

 

[G00fyDad]

I believe I covered that in one of the swamps mentioned.

That's kind of like calling Mickey Mouse, just a rodent.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

You forgot the Everglades

I did forget the Everglades. Replace that boring rocky shore scene. You can tail one of those fan boat things.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Cool Stuff sounds pretty cool. I mean, I do like Stuff and all.

 

[doctornick]

To change the topic... here's what the grand plans for 2004 were once like...

I bolded the part relevant to the ride

Hmmm, while I don't like basic premise, but I think the Jr Autopia and Hedge Maze would be nice additions. I could see robot restaurant working as well.

Rainforest Rollercoaster sounds like something that should be in DAK (perhaps in a future South America someday).

 

[DocMcHulk]

Those people are legends.

Party on Martin!

Scaramouch, scaramouch - will you do the fandango!!

 

[Oddysey]

Party on Martin!

Scaramouch, scaramouch - will you do the fandango!!

Its Faandaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnngo!

 

[baymenxpac]

Its Faandaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnngo!

ba DA...BA da BA da DA

 

[Jake Wilson]

I would like to see all of the "ideas" and projects that were drawn up and never seen.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I am so glad the Time Racers concept never happened. My hatred for what they were planning to do to SSE knows no bounds in that regard. Epcot's Future World has already been mutilated almost beyond recognition and possibly beyond truly saving unless something truly miraculous happens with Disney's corporate leadership and creative team. We lost the wonderful Horizons, Imagination and World of Motion attractions already in favor of what's i'd readily and willingly argue to be garbage. Or at the very least objectively infinitely lesser experiences than what was there, a massive no-no for when you're trying to replace an attraction. Even Wonders of Life, despite not being as fantastic as some of the other pavilions, showed that Disney could still create fun heart-filled attractions with a limited budget (and we lost that too).

If you're going to go hacking away at a wonderful park like Epcot and replacing it's still-awesome classics (at least most of which I am convinced could have been plussed in a similar manner to SSE in '94 and still be amazing and futuristic today), you'd better ****damn well have a jaw droppingly amazing roster of fantastic new attractions planned that are superior in every way to what was there before. Otherwise don't you DARE touch it.

At least the majority of Spaceship Earth is still intact (even though they did their best to destroy the uplifting and epic ending from the '94 version). It was truly a blessing that apparently the structure couldn't support the concept they had in place. In most other situations i'd once again mock Disney's cheapness at shying away from spending money on necessary upgrades, but i'll make a rare exception here. At least there's still some heart to Epcot with what remains of Spaceship Earth.

 

[Uncle Remus]

I did forget the Everglades. Replace that boring rocky shore scene. You can tail one of those fan boat things.

An airboat

 

[BoarderPhreak]

I am so glad the Time Racers concept never happened. My hatred for what they were planning to do to SSE knows no bounds in that regard. Epcot's Future World has already been mutilated almost beyond recognition and possibly beyond truly saving unless something truly miraculous happens with Disney's corporate leadership and creative team. We lost the wonderful Horizons, Imagination and World of Motion attractions already in favor of what's i'd readily and willingly argue to be garbage. Or at the very least objectively infinitely lesser experiences than what was there, a massive no-no for when you're trying to replace an attraction.

If you're going to go hacking away at a wonderful park like Epcot and replacing classics, you'd better damn well have an attraction planned that is superior in every way to what was there before, otherwise don't touch it. At least the majority of Spaceship Earth is still intact (even though they did their best to destroy the uplifting and epic ending from the '94 version). It was truly a blessing that apparently the structure couldn't support the concept they had in place. In most other situations i'd once again mock Disney's cheapness at shying away from spending money on necessary upgrades, but i'll make a rare exception here. At least there's still some heart to Epcot with what remains of Spaceship Earth.

Another fellow EPCOT Center fan, I see. I totally concur.

 

[PeterAlt]

See, Project Gemini - or ANY fix EC project - along with Fire Mountain, Bald Mountain, D-E-A-D (dead) after 2006... WHY?

Because these projects were pet projects of Eisner. With their #1 supporter gone, there were no one there to push for them.

The result? They joined a list of great projects that never saw the light of day of the likes of...

Western River Expedition... RIP
Great Muppet Movie Ride... RIP
Dick Tracy Crime Stoppers... RIP
Mount Fuji... RIP
Beastly Kingdom... RIP

...and many other tragic casulties!

 

[Nmoody1]

I am so glad the Time Racers concept never happened. My hatred for what they were planning to do to SSE knows no bounds in that regard. Epcot's Future World has already been mutilated almost beyond recognition and possibly beyond truly saving unless something truly miraculous happens with Disney's corporate leadership and creative team. We lost the wonderful Horizons, Imagination and World of Motion attractions already in favor of what's i'd readily and willingly argue to be garbage. Or at the very least objectively infinitely lesser experiences than what was there, a massive no-no for when you're trying to replace an attraction. Even Wonders of Life, despite not being as fantastic as some of the other pavilions, showed that Disney could still create fun heart-filled attractions with a limited budget (and we lost that too).

If you're going to go hacking away at a wonderful park like Epcot and replacing it's still-awesome classics (at least most of which I am convinced could have been plussed in a similar manner to SSE in '94 and still be amazing and futuristic today), you'd better ****damn well have a jaw droppingly amazing roster of fantastic new attractions planned that are superior in every way to what was there before. Otherwise don't you DARE touch it.

At least the majority of Spaceship Earth is still intact (even though they did their best to destroy the uplifting and epic ending from the '94 version). It was truly a blessing that apparently the structure couldn't support the concept they had in place. In most other situations i'd once again mock Disney's cheapness at shying away from spending money on necessary upgrades, but i'll make a rare exception here. At least there's still some heart to Epcot with what remains of Spaceship Earth.

Think time racers would be better to take up space in innovations -clear the buildings and put a fun attraction in!

 

[PeterAlt]

Think time racers would be better to take up space in innovations -clear the buildings and put a fun attraction in!

Disagree. Innoventions has some of the best in cutting edge exhibits of the park. This is what makes EPCOT EC.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

See, Project Gemini - or ANY fix EC project - along with Fire Mountain, Bald Mountain, D-E-A-D (dead) after 2006... WHY?

Because these projects were pet projects of Eisner. With their #1 supporter gone, there were no one there to push for them....

Yep, the horrible Eisner Era. Funny how they're undoing a bunch of what he did.

Disagree. Innoventions has some of the best in cutting edge exhibits of the park. This is what makes EPCOT EC.

Cutting edge? I wouldn't say that. Cutting edge was Communicore and the likes of SGI's virtual reality (at the time). Granted, there's some of that with Sum of All Thrills - but that's about it.

 

[PeterAlt]

I am so glad the Time Racers concept never happened. My hatred for what they were planning to do to SSE knows no bounds in that regard. Epcot's Future World has already been mutilated almost beyond recognition and possibly beyond truly saving unless something truly miraculous happens with Disney's corporate leadership and creative team. We lost the wonderful Horizons, Imagination and World of Motion attractions already in favor of what's i'd readily and willingly argue to be garbage. Or at the very least objectively infinitely lesser experiences than what was there, a massive no-no for when you're trying to replace an attraction. Even Wonders of Life, despite not being as fantastic as some of the other pavilions, showed that Disney could still create fun heart-filled attractions with a limited budget (and we lost that too).

If you're going to go hacking away at a wonderful park like Epcot and replacing it's still-awesome classics (at least most of which I am convinced could have been plussed in a similar manner to SSE in '94 and still be amazing and futuristic today), you'd better ****damn well have a jaw droppingly amazing roster of fantastic new attractions planned that are superior in every way to what was there before. Otherwise don't you DARE touch it.

At least the majority of Spaceship Earth is still intact (even though they did their best to destroy the uplifting and epic ending from the '94 version). It was truly a blessing that apparently the structure couldn't support the concept they had in place. In most other situations i'd once again mock Disney's cheapness at shying away from spending money on necessary upgrades, but i'll make a rare exception here. At least there's still some heart to Epcot with what remains of Spaceship Earth.

I do agree. They would have drawn up a Gemini 2.0 that left SSE intact, me thinks.

 

[PeterAlt]

Yep, the horrible Eisner Era. Funny how they're undoing a bunch of what he did.

It was good until the Pressler era and got good again after Pressler got the boot. Things would be much better today if he stayed.